Sandals Barbados

First time staying in Barbados and at a Sandals resort. The whole property is stunning and all the staff are incredibly friendly. Food and drinks were excellent. Service in the Chi Asian Fusion restaurant was awful. My appetiser arrived first and then my husbands arrived 20 minutes later. We just assumed they had forgotten us but never complained. After the plates were cleared we waited about 30 minutes for our mains to start being delivered to our table. My husbands rice arrived and my crispy beef and broccoli arrived. Nothing else arrived. Sat waiting patiently for another 10 minutes and nothing else arrived. Called a waitress over and it eventually arrived but by this time my crispy beef was cold so that had to be taken back to the kitchen. Another arrived 5 minutes later. Food once it all arrived was delicious. We really wanted to try the desserts but didn’t want to wait anymore so went and had the peach crumble at the Merry Monkey. Food was the best at the Merry Monkey in our opinion and our least favourite was at Butch Chop house. One thing we did find rather rude and annoying was a group of American guests who just hovered around the swim up pool bar daily and made it difficult for others to order drinks. They all had their drink flasks on the bar and once they had finished expected their drinks to be refilled ahead of other waiting customers. I actually spoke up loudly and made sure I was served first as I had waited the longest which one of the Americans looked at me and scowled at me 🫣. It really is a beautiful resort and Island and would visit again.

There was 12 in our group. This was an amazing vacation and the staff was awesome, very professional with amazing people skills. We have traveled all over the world and I rank this vacation one of our favorites. Thank you Sandals Barbados Amazing Great Vacations Jackie Rush

We have had the most amazing holiday here and honestly couldn’t have asked for a better experience! 🌴☀️ From start to finish, everything has been absolutely fantastic. The food has been first class, with so much choice and every meal being delicious, and the service from all the staff has been exceptional. Everyone has been so friendly and welcoming. 🍹❤️ It really has been the perfect place to relax, unwind and enjoy some much-needed sunshine. We’ve made some wonderful memories and will definitely be leaving with a big smile on our faces. We would highly recommend it and would love to come back again! 🌴🍹✨

After a long journey from the UK it was great to have a short transfer time from the airport. Our mini bus dropped guests at the Royal Barbados first and then continued to drop us at Sandals Barbados. We stayed for 2 weeks and thoroughly enjoyed so many aspects of our holiday, there were also, sadly, a few negatives. Check- In was swift, and included a welcome drink; however we were not asked to provide Credit Card details at the time so thankfully when I visited the spa during our holiday I had cash with me to cover the tip as this could not be charged to the room. We then made sure that we lodged our Credit Card details with the Club Lounge so that we could charge items to the room for the remainder of the holiday. Throughout our holiday when using the Club Lounge we noted that we rarely saw the same member of staff more than once and this seemed a shame as it is nice to get to know members of the team especially when on holiday for 14 nights. We had booked an OJS room overlooking the ocean and all rooms in this building have recently been renovated. Although we would definitely stay at this resort in the future we would not book an OJS room. In each room there is a filter, separate to the air-conditioning unit, which we found to be quite noisy - we pointed this out when we were first shown to the room and Miracle, who was checking us in, did make a call for us to see if this noise could be reduced on a room by room basis. Unfortunately this could not be achieved so after 2 nights of sleeping in that room we asked formally if anything could be done or if we could move room. We were shown other rooms, in the same building by Dexter, and were accompanied by the on-site Chief Engineer as he was interested to hear the noise after the recent renovations. This confirmed that the noise was in fact in all rooms in this block overlooking the Calypso Pool. There were not many alternatives that could be offered to us due to the extensive refurbishments that were taking place on the 'Royal' side of the resort at the time of our visit and the fact that we were there for 14 nights so we opted to stay in the same room but had to sleep using ear plugs. The finish to the room itself was overall poor, lighting was limited and the bedside lamps could only be operated from one side of the bed and only then by getting out of the bed to reach the switch. The door to the bathroom was on a metal runner which was splattered with paint and in some places looked rusty. As the door was on a runner it left a gap of about an inch or more between the door and the room itself meaning that if someone came to the door to deliver something to the room they could see in to the shower in the bathroom - not ideal. Twice when we returned to the room after a day round the pool we had not been left fresh towels and had to ring for them to be delivered - on both occasions we had to wait approx 30 mins. The door of the Safety Deposit Box faced in to the wardrobe making it difficult to access belongings from it due to clothes hanging up. During our first week Spices restaurant was still being re-modelled and breakfast was served instead in the Bombay restaurant, which was lovely, as was breakfast at Schooners. Our favourite lunchtime restaurant was Neptunes where you can sit overlooking the ocean. There was a wide menu to choose from and the service was prompt and courteous. and the food freshly cooked. Personally we were not so keen on the buffet lunches served at the American Tavern and Spices (when it re-opened) as we found the choices to be quite limited, but that was just personal taste. During our first week we attended the Returning Guests dinner which was a fabulous occasion: it's always good to hear directly from the management team. For dinner our favourite restaurants were Butches, both on the Barbados and Royal side and across the holiday we made a number of visits. Kimonos was great fun and Soy was fabulous for fresh sushi. We were slightly disappointed with La Parisienne as on both visits we felt rushed, even though our bookings were for 8pm; such a shame as the food was beautiful. (Restrooms by La Parisienne require some attention. In the ladies there were 3 cubicles and on one particular evening, one was blocked, one had no door and the lock on the remaining cubicle door didn't work). Unfortunately on the evening we tried to eat at Chi there were 32 other guests on the waiting list ahead of us, so it's clearly very popular . Maybe this should be added to the list of restaurants that require pre-booking. The Merry Monkey offered basic pub type food and was often very busy. The drinks here were great and the service provided by Jose was friendly and prompt. On a few evenings it did get particularly warm in the pub, not sure if there was an issue with the air conditioning. Lovers Lane and the Sky Bar were also great for drinks in the evening -it was well worth taking the umbrella from the room with us some evenings to keep us dry whilst walking from venue to venue. Time spent around the pool was great - it pays to have a good walk round the resort on your first day to see which of the many pools will suit you best as they each have a different 'vibe'. Sunbeds were reserved fairly early in the morning at the Calypso Pool. Access to the beach was easy and there was never any shortage of beds. Each day was different in terms of the amount of seaweed but the beach itself was beautiful. The gardens and grounds are well maintained. The spa treatment I had was great - thank you Sasha. I used the spa on the Royal side - it was beautifully laid out and everything was well explained. Towards the end of our holiday, due to the issues we had with our room, we were shown a number of different style rooms across the property that we will consider for a future visit - thank you to Dexter for taking the time out of your busy schedule to do this for us we certainly appreciated it. On our last day our flight home was delayed so our transfer to the airport was delayed accordingly by Sandals allowing us more time in resort - thank you.

My husband and I love Sandals and will visit other Sandals locations in the future but I’ve got to review this location because it was not the experience we had at the prior three Sandals locations we’ve been to. We had butler service as we always do and although they were nice, they were horrible at their jobs. Between the three of them, they managed to drop the ball several times, reserving cabs, our loungers at the pool, to list a couple. There seemed to be something everyday and the level of attention that is Sandals was missing. Others at the resort raved about their butlers so we must have had the B Team?? Overall service at Sandals Barbados was just not what we were expecting and wasn’t the Sandals we know.